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Indian-Style Baked Eggs Florentine

Eggs Florentine is one of those breakfast classics that have inspired countless variations upon the simple theme of a cooked egg topped with a savoury sauce and sitting on a small bed of cooked spinach. Well, count me in for another experiment, and I can honestly say that this Easter Sunday breakfast was not just the best Eggs Florentine I've ever had but probably one of the tastiest breakfasts I've ever made. Best of all, it takes very little time to prepare, especially if you make the lightly spiced but beautifully fragrant creamed spinach that forms the Indian-style base of these eggs Florentine the night before. Even so, the spiced creamed spinach takes only 20 minutes to prepare and cook.

You will need eight 4-ounce ramekins or custard cups to make these baked eggs Florentine, or you can use four larger gratin dishes and divide the same ingredients four ways instead of eight. They are best served right out of the oven, but warn your diners that they are very hot indeed, and a few moments of cooling might spare them a scalded tongue!

Lightly grease 8 ramekins or custard cups with butter and preheat the oven to 350°. Place the ramekins on a baking tray.

Spoon 2 tablespoons of the spiced creamed spinach in the bottom of each ramekin. Break an egg into a saucer or cup, and slide the egg into a prepared cup. Repeat with each of the remaining eggs, putting one egg into each ramekin. Sprinkle each cup with a little salt and fresh ground black pepper, and slide the baking tray into the oven. Bake for 12 minutes.

Remove the tray from the oven and carefully lay slices of the cheddar cheese on top of each egg. Sprinkle the tops with 1/2 tablespoon of bread crumbs and a pinch of cayenne, and return the tray to the oven. Bake for 5 minutes longer, until the egg whites are set, and up to 10 minutes if you prefer the yolks to be set as well. The cheese should be bubbling, and the bread crumbs browned.

Very carefully transfer the ramekins to a plate and serve with a fork or spoon.

Melt the ghee or butter in a large saucepan or wok over medium heat. As it melts, toss in the asafetida powder into some of the heated butter, wait a few seconds, then stir in the garam masala, coriander, cayenne, turmeric and nutmeg. Turn down the heat to moderately low, and stir-fry the spices for a couple of minutes until fragrant.

Whisking the spiced butter or ghee continually with one hand to avoid clumping, slowly sift the flour through a fine-mesh strainer into the pan with the other hand.

Slowly pour in the heated milk, while continuing to whisk. As the milk is blended into the butter and flour mixture, it will become a medium-thick sauce. Continue whisking to keep the sauce smooth until it reaches the desired consistency.

Add the spinach and use a fork to spread the spinach evenly throughout the sauce. Cook for 5 to 6 minutes, stirring frequently with a wooden spoon. Remove from heat, and season with the salt and black pepper.

Yum! They look so pretty and yummy! I also love the fact that you don't just top the whole thing off with cream, which had always turned me off form Eggs Florentine. Following your suggested times, how cooked do the eggs get? Set whites but gooey yolks, and the gooey yumminess in the photos is the cheese?

Peter, the beauty of this type of recipe is you can experiment with a wide variety of flavours. I think paneer would be amazing in this dish. I'm also planning on making a version using mushrooms in place of the spinach.

Neen, the white part is definitely set and the yolk is a bit soft but not exactly runny either. And yes, that gooey yumminess you see is the cheese!

Based in London, Ontario, a veteran vegetarian for 23 years serves up a collection of delicious culinary creations from her kitchen, with an emphasis on spicy Indian dishes and whole foods. If you want to know what sensible vegetarians eat, Lisa's Kitchen is the place to be.